Rupert Wheeler

2010 /

Profile

Rupert is a barrister with substantial advocacy and advisory expertise across a number of legal fields. Though he originally specialised in criminal defence, and continues to accept regular instructions in serious crime, in recent years he has undertaken a significant amount of civil and public law work. His mixed practice gives him strong skills in advocacy, analysis and drafting, all of which he employs regardless of the nature of the case. He is comfortable in both civil and criminal jurisdictions, which gives him an advantage when advising individuals and companies that become embroiled in parallel claims. He also has experience working in foreign and international jurisdictions, including the Cayman Islands, Bangladesh, Egypt and at the ICTY in The Hague, Netherlands.

Rupert is known as a tenacious and committed barrister, with particular skill in identifying and employing subtle points of law in order to succeed in his client’s case. As well as being an accomplished trial advocate, he has been instructed in numerous cases before the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and the High Court (Queen’s Bench Division). He has been admitted to the Bar of the Cayman Islands, where he is currently undertaking a variety of cases before both the Cayman Grand Court and the Cayman Court of Appeal.

In his criminal work, Rupert has appeared as sole counsel for defendants charged with offences of the utmost gravity, including cases alleging attempted murder, rape of a child, armed robbery with a firearm and gunpoint kidnapping. He has experience as a led junior in large scale matters.

In public law, he has mounted numerous judicial review claims against public bodies, with particular experience in claims following the unlawful acts of Magistrates’ Courts. He has had a number of cases reported, including R (Poskitt) v Reading Magistrates’ Court [2018] EWHC 984 (Admin) and R (Dyer) v Watford Magistrates’ Court [2013] EWHC 547 (Admin), both of which have had an impact on the way courts can consider summary proceedings. Most recently he appeared for the claimant in Stannard v CPS [2019] EWHC 84 (Admin), where the Administrative Court defined the scope of the Community Protection Notice, rejecting the proposition that a public law defence could be raised in criminal proceedings for breach of the CPN.

In the civil and commercial sphere, Rupert has acted for both companies and individuals in matters relating to property, contractual issues, trust disputes, defamation claims and negligence. He also has experience in local government law cases such as licensing and business rates disputes.

Rupert has a strong interest in international criminal law. In 2015, he assisted a defence team at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. He has a wide knowledge of international human rights issues and sat on the Executive Board of the Bar Human Rights Committee (“BHRC”) between 2015 and 2017. Whilst working with the BHRC he was involved in matters relating to countries including Bangladesh, Cameroon, Turkey, and Egypt.

Outside of daily practice, Rupert regularly contributes to legal journals and publications in all areas of his work. He was the co-editor of “Confiscation” for Butterworths’ Money Laundering Law between 2014 and 2017.

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